WWE Brand Extension
WWE, formerly the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Wrestling Entertainment promoted its core business of professional wrestling through two "brands" (that were intended to operate on television as scripted independent branches of the company) named after their two major television shows Raw and SmackDown until the August 29, 2011 episode of Raw when WWE chief operating officer Triple H announced that Raw would also feature SmackDown stars on a full-time basis. A similar announcement regarding Raw wrestlers on SmackDown was made later that week. Since the establishment of the "supershow" format, all televised events and house show cards have featured the entire WWE roster, thus effectively dissolving the brand extension. As a result, the yearly draft (which had taken place since 2004) was also discontinued. WWE explained that their decision to end the brand extension was due to wanting their content to flow across TV and online platforms. The Brand Extension was restarted July 2016. Brand Extension 1 On March 17, 2002, World Wrestling Federation (WWF) Chairman Vince McMahon officially announced that the company would represent its business of professional wrestling through two distinct brands called "Raw" and "SmackDown"—named after the WWF's weekly television programs. This was a direct result of the acquisition of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), the WWF's primary rival corporations throughout the 1990s, that resulted in the addition of numerous talent to the extensive WWF roster, whom were referred to as "superstars" by the company. In terms of storyline, WWF superstar Ric Flair had become fifty percent owner of the WWF following WWE Survivor Series 2001 after Shane and Stephanie McMahon had sold their stocks to him in order to purchase WCW and ECW, respectively, a campaign to launch the Invasion script. Original full WWF owner Vince McMahon detested having to share his creation with Flair and sought to dissolve their partnership. Simultaneously, Flair was engaged in a feud with The Undertaker and wanted to conclude it with a bout at WWE WrestleMania 18. However, the WWF Board of Directors would only allow the match if Flair returned full ownership back to McMahon. Flair agreed, but the Board stated that it would review the WWF's status and ownership following WrestleMania. In continuation with storyline, the Board's ultimate decision was to split the entire WWF roster into two separate entities, with McMahon in control of the SmackDown brand and Ric Flair in control of the Raw brand. All WWF superstars were to be assigned to a brand based on random selections conducted through a mock–draft lottery. On the March 25, 2002 episode of Raw, the WWF Draft was held, in which each owner received a total of thirty picks Draft Lottery The 2002 WWF brand extension draft took place at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania on March 25, 2002. The first half of the draft was televised live on TNN for two hours, as part of the WWF's flagship program, Raw. The second half was conducted over the Internet on WWF's official website, WWF.com. There were thirty draft picks, with sixty superstars drafted overall by co-owners of the WWF, onto their respective brands, Raw and SmackDown. The remaining superstars were divided randomly in a draft lottery, with each brand receiving a grand total of thirty superstars. * 2002 WWE Draft * 2004 WWE Draft * 2005 WWE Draft * 2006 WWE Draft * 2007 WWE Draft * 2008 WWE Draft * 2009 WWE Draft * 2010 WWE Draft * 2011 WWE Draft Brand Extension 2 In 2016 after behind the scenes concerns about SmackDown's ratings on the USA Network, WWE again announced a Brand Extension using the ongoing Shane McMahon vs Stephanie McMahon storyline that had been running most of the year. Once again Rosters, Announce Teams, Writing Staff and Shows were seperated between Raw and Smackdown with NXT being considered a feeder brand in its own right. Drafts / Shakeups * 2016 WWE Draft * 2017 WWE Superstar Shakeup * 2018 WWE Superstar Shakeup * 2019 WWE Superstar Shakeup * 2019 WWE Draft Brand Extension Videos * Sept 12-13 2016: Jack Swagger Jumps Ship See Also WWE, Raw, SmackDown, ECW